Pepperwood: The Director's Cut
by imeantsomethinglikethat
Summary: AU. Still basking in the success of their film 'Pepperwood' Nick, Winston and Schmidt move to LA, where they meet Cece, and up-and-coming model, and Jess, a senior at UCLA with aspirations of becoming a teacher.
1. Prologue

**_Hi guys, so this is an AU story set in the present day, hope you all enjoy it. (Thanks to Mayalala who urged me to get my butt in gear and start writing again) It was wrote shortly after watching Clerks for like the hundredth time, so take from that what you will. Enjoy :)_**

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_Prologue._

Once upon a time, at a party hosted and attended by seniors of the University of Chicago, during a heated and somewhat inebriated discussion about why Zombie books certainly were (and always would be for that matter) better than any other genre of literature, a bet was made; involving a pad of paper, a Law major-come-writer named Nicholas Miller, and a then-un-named alcoholic drink in a blue cooler that ensured anybody who drank it had minimal memories of the night.

Under Nick Miller's drunken fingers, a short story was sketched of a lonely zombie detective named Julius Pepperwood, a tale that he considered both moving and terrifying- his masterpiece, and it was upon finishing this masterpiece (and subsequently finishing the last of the concoction in the blue cooler) that he announced to the full room that he had just wrote a story that they would tell their grandchildren about, a tale so great that he must insist that they turn off the music and listen to it.

Of course, given his undeniably intoxicated state, the story itself was written less like a piece of literature and more like a film script, and when read to a full room of equally drunken seniors, was greeted not with awe and quiet terror as he had intended, but with laughter and loud cheering.

Browbeaten, he had crumpled up the paper in annoyance, thrown it in his bag and, thanks to another blue cooler worth of the un-named alcohol, had forgotten all about it by classes the next morning. He was somewhat confused therefore, when students he had never spoken to before repeatedly approached him in corridors stating how much they had enjoyed his film idea, and Nicholas Miller will attest even to this day that the word '_genius_' was mentioned on more than one occasion.

The encounters led to a bewildered Nick digging out the battered looking piece of paper from the bottom of his bag and reading it once more, discovering that he had, indeed, written a brilliant and rather hilarious spoof film about a zombie apocalypse.

The film had to be made of course, and Nick enlisted the help of his best friend Winston Bishop, who just so happened to be majoring in Theatre and Performance Studies, and group of people from his classes to map out a plan for the production. His roommate Schmidt was also invited to partake after Nick discovered that he would have to use their dorm to film certain scenes and it would appear less intrusive if he was along for the ride. He also quickly discovered that one of the main characters he had sketched out mirrored his roommate completely, and the match seemed too perfect to simply ignore. The other roles were respectively played by himself, Winston, and a group of his friends and family who he had practically forced into _volunteering_.

Restrictions on the college campus meant they could only shoot at night (which Nick argued was perfect, since it only added to the atmosphere of the film) and during filming Nick sold his collection of rare baseball cards his father had given him, maxed out two credit cards and dipped in to over half of the money he had put aside for law school. It also became clear after a few months of filming that to keep the cost of production low, the film was going to have to be in black and white rather than colour. It was hardly ideal, but a goal was set, and after months of working non-stop (and forgetting almost entirely about their senior theses) the film was finally complete.

The final cut (which was eventually named _Pepperwood_) was played first at a special viewing on the college campus attended not only by their fellow seniors, but by freshmen, sophomores and a few well-informed professors, and it received a reaction and was more than Nick, Winston and Schmidt had ever imagined. It gained high praise at the Independent Feature Film Market and within no time (and certainly with no idea how they had ever pulled it off) _Pepperwood_ became increasingly well-known, leading eventually to them being nominated several times at the Sundance Film Festival and being picked up by Miramax.

The boys appeared on talk shows and did magazine interviews to increase their incomes (and as Nick would happily admit: to pay off their huge debts) and when they finally graduated, they collectively packed up their cars and drove to LA, settling together in a large loft in a private complex overlooking the sea, where they planned to write and plan their next project.

Articles about them would attest that they owed their success to Nick's brilliant writing, Winston's knowledge of the film business and Schmidt's expert comedic timing. Nick always smiled knowingly at these critiques however, as he was aware that only he and his two best friends held the secret to the one thing they truly owed their success to: The alcoholic beverage in the blue cooler, the drink that they had all affectionately come to know as _Bro Juice_.


	2. Magazines, Shots and Bad Disguises

**Thanks for the reviews on the prologue, so here's the first chapter. It's a bit long with (to be honest) not a massive amount of action, I'm just trying to set up the characters at the moment so try to suffer through it for now. Oh and even though Jess and Sadie are at college in the story, the American schooling system fully confuses me because it's so different to the one I'm used to and I'm just kind of playing it by ear, so if I make any massive mistakes (or any cultural mistakes in general, even if it's just phrasing I use) feel free to tell me. Enjoy :)**

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_Magazines, Shots and Bad Disguises_

1.

It is common knowledge that three twenty-something women, living together in an apartment barely big enough to house one of the girl's shoe collections, can be at times, nothing less than complete chaos.

Sadie Foster dropped her armful of textbooks down on the couch with a well-practiced sigh as she entered the room, picking up a copy of _Empire_ magazine from the top and waving it in the air. "Guess what?"

Her flatmates were settled at the kitchen table, Jessica Day had books spread out haphazardly in front of her, titles like _How Well Do You Really Know Hamlet? _and _An Anthology of The Great Classics _shining in gold writing on the spines.

"You've finally memorised the entire of that _Anatomy_ textbook you've been pouring over for months?" Cece Parekh guessed, not looking up from her task of painting her nails a vibrant red.

"The professor you've been pining after for two years finally told you she was gay and that you could run away together?' Jess offered, reaching for her mug of coffee and taking a sip, grimacing when she found that it was cold.

"Even better," Sadie smiled "The guys behind _Pepperwood_ are speaking at a convention this weekend for _An Introduction to the art and technique of filmmaking._ Apparently all three guys are gonna be there!'

"_Pepperwood_?" Cece screwed her face up "Which one was _Pepperwood_ again?"

"I don't even see how you manage to go to so many of these events Sadie," Jess stated, standing and grabbing her coffee mug, "I barely have time for anything outside of working and studying and you're doing Medicine, your work load is twice as much as mine- Does anybody want a coffee while I'm up?"

"No I'm good" Cece murmured, putting the finishing coat on her nails. Then, she looked up, "Hey do we have any of that green tea left?"

"_Pepperwood_ guys!" Sadie threw her hands up, letting the other girls' attention fall to the magazine in her hand. "I said it was one of the most creative films I'd seen in like five years."

She grew exasperated quickly at her friends' blank faces, "I took you guys to see it at the small cinema in West LA last year, the one with the really comfy seats."

Jess' brow furrowed, "Was that the time Cece threw up in that guy's fedora?"

"Oh shit, it was." Cece grimaced, smiling at Jess as she placed a mug of green tea on the table in front of her.

"God, I'd forgotten about that," Sadie admitted, "Why was that again, were you sick or something?"

"Try drunk," Cece laughed, "If I remember correctly Kyle had just broken up with me and I decided to console myself using a full bottle of vodka."

"Kyle," Jess huffed, shaking her head, "He was such a jerk."

"Can't say I remember much of the actual film though Sade" Cece glanced at her friend, offering her a sympathising smile. "I was otherwise engaged in throwing up my guts into people's personal possessions."

"Serves him right for wearing a fedora anyway," Sadie told her, making her way round the couch and towards the kitchen table 'Look anyway, _Empire_ just did a huge four page interview with them, that's them on the cover, there!"

All three girls looked down at the black and white cover that featured three relatively young looking guys, two of them with fairly serious expressions on their faces, their arms crossed across their stomachs, the guy on the left however looked like he was mid-laugh, and his arms were spread out wide either side of him showing off his defined muscles.

"I recognise that guy from somewhere,' Cece acknowledged, pointing her finger to the laughing man on the cover.

"They look young." Jess commented shortly after, "You sure they did the entire movie completely by themselves? I bet their parents are in the business or something, or at least crazy rich."

"Not at all," Sadie gushed, turning the magazine to the four page spread someone near the middle, "That's one of the reasons they're so popular. It's a real _rags-to-riches _story, it's all here in the interview, they were just friends in college and they had this film idea and just decided it was too good to pass by. The entire film only cost about twenty-eight thousand dollars to make, which is a tiny amount for movies these days, and they put themselves into crazy amount of debt making it- the writer Nick, he's that one there," She pointed to a guy in one the pictures who was posed holding a clapper board, the corners of his mouth turned down into what wasn't exactly a frown, more like a look of disfavour, "He maxed out like two credit cards, sold a bunch of his possessions and used like his entire fund for Law school just to get the movie finished."

"That's impressive I guess," Jess relented "Irresponsible though, what if nobody had liked the movie, they'd have been screwed."

"I know where I know him from!" Cece suddenly announced, jumping to her feet and making her way across the room and into her bedroom. "I saw him in one of my magazines," she shouted through to them, emerging a few minutes later with a copy of _Cosmopolitan_ under her arm. "They did a section this month on 'beach hunks' and-" She paused momentarily to glare at Jess, who had just snorted into her coffee, "And _anyway_ he was one of them, look!"

The _Cosmopolitan_ spread had given the actor a nine and half out of ten on their '_hot-o-meter_', based on a photo of him strutting shirtless down Manhattan Beach with the caption '_Pepperwood's Schmidt soaks up the rays in the LA morning sun_'.

"Schmidt?" Jess read over the caption, "What kind of name is _Schmidt_?"

"He's Jewish I think," Cece informed her friend.

"But I mean, is that his first name or his last name?" She continued, a look of censure on her face, "Why do celebrities think it's acceptable to just go by one name?"

"Worked for Madonna," Cece offered.

"And Jesus," Sadie smirked, looking over her friends shoulder at the picture once more.

"I don't care if he _is _Jesus," Cece grinned, "I mean, _look_ at his body!"

Jess scrunched up her nose "His chest is so smooth and hairless though, he looks like a baby seal."

Sadie pressed her lips together; trying to keep a straight face as Cece openly gawped at Jess. "He's gorgeous!"

"He's got the body of a God," Sadie chimed in, and when given sidelong glances from both of her friends merely shrugged, "What? Just 'cos I don't wanna touch it doesn't mean I can't admire from afar, the guy's hot!"

"You're terrible," Jess said light-heartedly, shaking her head and collecting her books together, "And on that note, I'm gonna go study in my room, the level of hormones radiating from you two right now is giving me a headache and I have work tonight."

"When's your shift start?" Cece asked her as she walked away, her head now turned downwards as she flicked absently through her magazine.

"Eight," Jess told her with a quick glance over her shoulder as she headed for her room, "You gonna stop by for a drink?"

"I'm having dinner with a girl from last week's shoot called Nadia tonight," she voiced with an air of slight exasperation "She comes across as clinically insane but she's been modelling longer than me and she has contacts so I figured it wouldn't hurt. She weighs about twelve pounds though and all I saw her eat the full shoot was a carrot stick so I can't imagine I'll be at dinner long, I'll stop by afterwards."

"Okay, see you later," Jess said once more over her shoulder before she stepped into her room and closed the door to her friends.

"Insane?" Sadie said, her eyebrows rising at her friend as she joined her at the kitchen table.

"Seriously," Cece emphasised, "I'm fairly sure she was kicked out of Russia Sades, _Russia!"_

2.

It was almost nine when Cece dropped her bag on the bar in front of Jess, sighing dramatically. Jess gave her a sympathetic smile as a guy shouted her from the other end of the bar, walking away from her momentarily to take his order. After pouring three beers she returned to her friend, noticing her appearance for the first time since she came in.

"Hey, you look nice," she motioned to her dress, and then let her eyes sweep over her hair, which was fastened in a large, neat bun on the top of her head. "Was the place you went with that other model fancy?"

"Nadia," Cece offered, and then nodded slowly as if in pain, "And yes, it was, far more fancy than I can afford right now, and I didn't want to seem cheap, so I ordered a steak, and then I had to watch as she ordered a Caesar Salad and ate nothing but the lettuce."

Jess grimaced, not envying Cece at all for having to put up with the girls in the modelling industry. "Was the steak at least nice?" she asked her, grabbing a towel from underneath the bar and starting to clean the surface around her best friend.

Cece seemed to perk up. "It was _divine_," she admitted and then she let a grin spread over her face, "But enough talk of steak and crazy models, get me a whisky."

Sadie joined them ten minutes later, practically throwing her body down on a barstool and cradling her head in her hands. "Remind me," she huffed "whose idea was it for me to study Medicine again?"

"Um, yours?" Jess provided.

"When you decided you wanted to be an OB/GYN when we were like fifteen," Cece finished, and then giving her friends shoulder a squeeze she added, "Is your brain turning to mush?"

"It's not even a brain anymore; it's just a pile of crap in my head." Sadie grumped, lowering her body down so her forehead was rested on the cool surface of the bar. "And I made the mistake of ringing Lucy, who offered to help me in her own _special_ little way."

Jess held back a smile. "And what special way would that be?"

"She sang Hannah Montana's_ Bone Dance _down the phone to me! And now I can't study properly because I can't get the damn song out of my head!"

Cece watched as Sadie emphasised her point by banging her forehead hard on the bar and chuckled. "She's your sister, she's supposed to annoy you- it's what they're for."

Sadie simply groaned into her arms and waited a few seconds before lifting her head up just enough so that she could stare at her bartender friend with pleading eyes. "Jess, for the love of God, please get me drunk."

And that was when the first of many rounds of shots was ordered that night.

3.

"This is ridiculous; we're three normal guys, we should not have to be sneaking about and- Nick! Are you listening to me, can you please take that damn baseball cap off!"

Winston threw his hands up in the air in defeat as Nick pulled the cap down to shield his face even further.

"Yes, really Nicholas!" Schmidt chimed in, shaking his head, his face a picture of disgust, "And can you please take off that goddamn trench coat while you're at it, you're drawing more attention _to_ us with the damn thing on- where the hell did you get it anyway its hideous!"

Nick shot him a glare from underneath his cap. "I'm in disguise you morons," he reasoned, "I'm sick of being ambushed by people, by bloody women! I wouldn't mind but most of them haven't even _seen_ the movie, they've just read that fucking interview in _Empire_. I knew we shouldn't have done the damn thing."

"Oh yeah," Winston agreed sarcastically, "Because it's not like we need the money or anything."

"Or the publicity," Schmidt mocked.

"Or the girls throwing themselves at our feet."

"Yeah," Schmidt deadpanned, "If it's one thing I'm sick of its girls that wouldn't usually look twice at us, hurling themselves in our direction- it's sickening."

Winston spun around to face Nick, yanking the baseball cap off his head and motioning around him in one movement. "_Look_, being noticed isn't necessarily a bad thing Nick," he reasoned "And besides, we're not gonna get hassled here, it's mainly a student bar by the looks of it and I can guarantee that they're all _far _too busy to pay any attention to us." He gestured to a booth a couple of metres away from where they were standing, "So sit down, stop complaining and I'll get us some beers."

Nick scowled at his friends once more but his shoulders had already dropped in resolve. "Fine," he mumbled to himself as he trudged towards the booth, "But the trench coat stays on!"

When Winston returned with the beers Nick and Schmidt were not talking to each other, but rather, were busy staring at something in the corner of the room. "What the-"

"Quiet!" Nick shushed him, "Look at those girls dancing near the jukebox, they're the most wasted I've seen anybody in years!"

"The tall Indian girl just did two shots at once Winston, _two shots at once!"_ Schmidt told him in hushed tones, his eyes never leaving the pair in the corner, "I'm not sure but I think this might be love."

Winston shook his head slightly and put the pitcher of beer and glasses down on the table a little louder the necessary, regaining the attention of his two friends. "Right," he said to them both, his eyebrows rising slightly, "Now I've got your attention again, let's talk about the TV appearances we've been asked to make, clearly we need to start picking them more carefully in order to avoid _awful_ ones like when we did _The View_ last month, they didn't ask us about the movie, plans for a new movie or about any of our projects whatsoever, they literally stared at Schmidt's chest and felt him up for ten minutes."

Schmidt beamed. "What can I say, the ladies love me."

The discussion quickly became more serious, and as it happened, the three were so absorbed in going through the list of public appearances they'd been asked to make that they didn't see the two girls in the background become so drunk that the Indian girl passed out in one of the nearby booths, her legs sticking clumsily out of the end, and the girl with the shoulder length mousy hair- who had been dancing wildly up until this point- suddenly hold her mouth in surprise and run off towards the bathroom.

"I say we definitely do Jimmy Fallon," Nick stated, downing the rest of his beer and standing up, "I mean come on_,_ It's _Jimmy Fallon_, we have to do it," he added as he headed to the bathroom leaving his two friends behind.

When he turned the corner into the corridor where the bathrooms were however, he found his path was blocked by one of the girls they had been watching dance earlier, her body laid out across the corridor with her face in a trashcan. There was a petite girl leaning over her, rubbing circles on her back and muttering things, and Nick distinctly heard her say "I'm dying Jess, this is the end," before throwing up instantly into the can.

"Jesus," he said on instinct, and regretted it immediately as the girl not throwing up looked immediately up at him.

"Ah, sorry about this, feel free to err…" Jess looked around her and seemed to realise that they were blocking the full width of the corridor "Step over us," she finished lamely, giving Nick a slight smile. "This is just my friend Sadie; she's probably too drunk to notice anyway."

Nick heard slight mumbles from inside the trashcan but they stopped almost straight away as she began throwing up again.

"Maybe I should go get somebody who works here," he offered, motioning back to the bar.

"I work here actually," Jess said, glancing back at her friend and gathering her hair up in her hands.

"Oh, a manager then?"

Jess smiled, "No it's fine honestly, I got her into this state, I should probably be the one to take care of her." She paused to pat her friends back "And my shift ended ten minutes ago anyway, I'm just gonna wait for her to finish what she's doing here and then attempt to get her and my other friend home." She stopped talking momentarily, "You wouldn't happen to have seen her out there would you? Tall, Dark hair, black dress?"

"I think I saw her passed out in a booth on my way in here."

Jess' shoulders slumped. "Crap."

Nick furrowed his brow and unconsciously rubbed his hand across his jaw. "Wait here," he motioned to her, "I'll be two minutes,"

Ten minutes later and they were heading to a cab that was pulled up outside. Schmidt had a passed out Cece threw over his shoulder while Nick and Winston were transporting a not quite unconscious- but still not able to hold her head up- Sadie. When they were safely laid in the back seats Jess took a moment to turn to her helpers.

"Thank you for this, seriously," she said sincerely to all three of them, and then on hearing Sadie moan in the back seat she looked hurriedly back and them and spoke in a much quicker voice, "Sorry, I really am thankful but I've got to go before Sadie throws up in the cab, thanks, bye!"

She climbed into the cab, stopping and glancing at Nick before she shut the door completely with a look of confusion on her face. "You do know that's a ladies coat, right?" And without waiting for a reply she chuckled and closed the door.

Schmidt sighed as the cab drove off. "I definitely had a moment with the Indian girl."

"She was passed out Schmidt!" Winston laughed, shaking his head and turning to Nick, who still looked slightly traumatised from having to empty the trashcan full of vomit five minutes earlier.

"Well on a positive note Nick" he started, giving his best friend a knowing smile and a nudge on the shoulder. "Those three girls at least, didn't seem to have the faintest idea who we were!"


	3. Hangover Cures and Cupcake Conventions

**Okayyyy so, first of all thank you all so much for all the reviews of the last chapter, it's lovely to know that people are liking this story so far. Second, please be patient with this story (and this chapter). At the moment I know there's not a lot of Nick/Jess interaction going on but this story is more of a slow burner and all the action isn't going to happen straight away- just to warn you. Thanks in advance for reading, hope you enjoy :)**

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_Hangover__ Cures and Cupcake Conventions_

1.

The sun was already high in the sky by the time Jess emerged, bleary eyed, from her room the next day, her feet shielded from the slight chill of the hardwood floor by the blue fluffy slippers she wore. She moved, as if on auto-pilot, to the pot of fresh coffee on the kitchen counter and was mid-way through reaching up to the top cupboard for her favourite mug when she heard a muffled groan from the couch.

"Jess? That you?"

Jess laughed, halting her hand in the air. "Morning Cece, how's the head?"

Cece's reply came in the form of a light whimper.

On instinct Jess grabbed another mug down from the cupboard. "You want a cup of green tea?"

"Nuh-uh," Came Cece's grumbled reply, "Today is a coffee morning. I need coffee in an IV."

Jess shook her head in mirth as she poured out two cups and headed over to the sitting area, placing Cece's mug down on the coffee table and eyeing her friend for the first time that morning: face down on the couch with her face pressed firmly into the cushion. She was wearing the sweatpants Jess knew she reserved for when she was feeling _truly _terrible and her hair was pulled back messily off her makeup-less face into a high pony-tail.

"I'm guessing you don't feel exactly brilliant this morning?" Jess ventured with a smirk.

"Death." Cece replied simply, reaching her arm out blindly for her mug and bringing it towards her, lifting her head up only enough so she could take a large gulp of the steaming hot coffee. "I think I've bruised my brain."

Jess watched in amusement as her friend finished off her coffee in another large gulp and managed to flip herself over on to her side so she was facing her for the first time that day; it seemed to take more effort than it was worth. "Sweetie, I'll love you forever if you pour me another cup," she bribed, holding out her mug to Jess with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Can't." Jess shook her head, her lips curving up into a smile involuntarily as she watched Cece's mortified expression. "You just drank the last of it, we're all out. I'm gonna have to go to the store." She removed the mug that was still grasped in Cece's hands and placed in on the coffee table gently. "And besides, you already love me forever."

Cece's loud groan was interrupted by a rustling from the other side of the apartment door, and after a pause of a couple of seconds Sadie appeared in the doorway, her book-bag clattering to the floor immediately with a resounding _thud!_ Jess had to stop herself from giggling at her appearance; she was wearing tiny denim shorts, a UCLA Bruins Basketball top (although Jess was fairly convinced it was on back-to-front) and her hair was half on top of her head in an attempted bun, the other half falling dejected and distressed around her shoulders in messy waves. She glanced up at Jess and Cece, both staring at her from their positions in the sitting area and held up the cardboard drink holder full of cups in her hand. "I brought us coffee."

"Oh my god, you are an angel!" Cece half-cried, sitting up immediately and reaching in the air towards the cups.

"Triple shot, black," Sadie spoke as she neared them, her voice sounding cracked and tired.

The girls murmured their thanks as she handed each of them a cup and slumped herself down on the couch next to Cece. "And if that doesn't work, we'll just stick our fingers in a light-socket."

Jess chuckled. "I see you feel as bad as Cece then. How did you handle your classes?"

Sadie shook her head as if trying to vanquish a painful memory and stayed quiet for a moment before speaking. "Well, let's just say that if I ever stood a chance with my Anatomy professor before, I certainly no longer do. I had to run out of her lecture half-way through to throw up."

Cece giggled despite herself and Jess shook her head with a wry smile on her face. "Well it's a good job you never _actually _stood a chance with her then isn't it, you know, with her being _straight _and everything."

Sadie merely shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, everyone's straight until they've tried it."

Her best friends shot her incredulous looks, "Sade, you really are terrible." Jess laughed taking another sip of her coffee and lifting her legs to settle on the coffee table in front of her. She had the distinct impression that not much was going to get done that day.

The girls had spent hours lounging in their respective places in the sitting area before the topic of how they had got home the previous night arose.

"I literally don't even remember getting to bed," Cece acknowledged. "I mean, granted I was fully dressed, but I was still in bed, which is something I guess."

"I was fully dressed this morning too." Sadie admitted. "Shoes and all."

"Believe me," Jess finally spoke up, eyeing her two best friends with an appraising look, "I had a hard enough time getting you guys into the flat and into your beds, there was no way I undressing you too!"

"You put us to bed?" Sadie blanched.

"Yep." Jess affirmed with a solid nod "You in particular were not being cooperative, you varied between dry-heaving and singing the _Bone Dance _at the top of your lungs."

Sadie scrunched up her face in mild embarrassment- she couldn't bring herself to feel any more than that of course, her friend had obviously seen her in worse states. "I told you I couldn't get that damn song out of my head."

Cece failed miserably to contain her sniggers. "Jesus Jess, by the sounds of it I think you were lucky to get us out of the bar."

Jess' eyes went wide suddenly, her brown orbs glistening with what both Cece and Sadie knew to be delight. "Oh God," Cece finally spoke up, "What happened?"

Giggles erupted from Jess before she could stop them. "Well," she began, trying to compose herself with little success. "See, I didn't exactly get you out of the bar by myself, I had a little help."

Sadie raised her eyebrow in question, a look of slight trepidation flitting across her features. Jess continued; her laughter more controlled now. "See, it was a bit too much for me to handle by myself, I mean you were passed out cold in one of the booths," she pointed in Cece and watched her eyes broaden. "And you were throwing up in a trash can in the corridor leading to the bathrooms and…"

"WHAT!" Sadie exclaimed suddenly and Cece burst in to fits of uncontrolled laughter, her head rolling back onto the couch automatically.

"At least I just passed out silently and was done with it," she choked out in between giggles.

Sadie shook her head slightly, but then her features seemed to settle into a look of acceptance. "I knew I could taste vomit when I woke up this morning."

Jess scrunched up her nose, "Ew _Sadie_!" she said, and then seemed to remember herself and continued. "Anyway, so there was no way I was gonna be able to manage you both and this guy came into the corridor and saw me with Sadie-"

"-What guy?" Cece interrupted.

"I don't know," Jess shook her head. "I didn't actually get his name. He looked kinda familiar though. They _all_ did actually. I don't know, maybe I've seen them around campus or-"

"Wait… _All?_" It was Sadie that interjected this time.

"Oh yeah, so this guy came into the corridor and saw me and then when he realised that I _clearly_ was never gonna be able to handle you guys by myself he went away and came back with his two friends and they helped me get you into a cab outside." Jess paused for a second and furrowed her brow. "Actually, I'm fairly sure one of them emptied the vomit-filled trash can too."

Sadie shook her head. "_So _embarrassing!"

"I'm mortified," Cece spoke up. "I need something to ease the pain."

"Pizza?" Sadie offered, and a grin broke out on her face on seeing the looks of eagerness that graced her friends' faces at her words.

"Oh my god yes!" Cece practically moaned; reaching over Sadie, grabbing the phone from the table and pressing number two on the speed dial all in one movement. "The usual?"

"Yeah," Both girls answered simultaneously, and then Jess added. "It was quite a brilliant sight actually, two of them were supporting and practically dragging you, Sades," she laughed as she recalled Sadie's drooping head and the look of fear on the two guys faces as they prayed that she wouldn't throw up again. "And then the other guy had Cece thrown over his shoulder, she was just hanging there like a rag-doll."

"Oh my God!" Cece blanched, "I'm so embarrassed, I… Oh hi we'd like… Yeah it's Cece… Yeah the regular order please, and extra fries… Thanks so much Andre, you're a star!" Cece hung up the phone and placed in back on the side table.

"Should we be concerned that Andre knows each one of our voices, regular order and address without us even having to say anything? We should probably stop ordering so much pizza guys." Jess said matter-of-factly.

"Hey, it saves time ordering," Cece told her, "And let's go back to the real issue here, I had to get _fireman-carried_ out of the bar?"

"It was brilliant." Jess confirmed. "Between you hanging there like a dead person and Sadie looking like she was being dragged back from the battlefield, it ended up seeming like a scene from a war movie."

Sadie and Cece simply looked at each other and muttered for what felt like the hundredth time that day "_So embarrassing_!"

It was decided when the evening hit that they couldn't let the day become a _complete_ waste, and so Jess and Sadie collected their textbooks and took up camp at the kitchen table, attempting to get at least _some_ studying done to ease their guilt at having done nothing all day. They were seniors- after all- and a full day lounging and avoiding studying all together actually did unnerve them somewhat. Add this to the fact that they were hosting their yearly 'October Boozer' party at their apartment on the Wednesday approaching (a party that usually took them a full week to recover from) and they figured that they should probably get some revision done pre-emptively- they knew from experience just how little they could care about their education when faced with a raging hangover and nothing to cure it but leftover '_special punch'_.

Cece however, not needing to worry herself with studying, had her mind set on other things, and was lounging in her room, nattering incessantly through the open door.

"-And honestly," she was saying, "I really do need to stop drinking like that. No man will ever look twice at me, I haven't got much to recommend me if I'm _passed out_ for God's sake, and if men don't look at me, I'll never get married and my mother will ring me every day for the rest of her life to complain to me that I've disappointed her by not giving her beautiful grandchildren!"

Sadie raised an eyebrow to Jess across the table. "Well, that escalated quickly."

"I'm serious." Cece's voice came through the door again. "I mean that guy who carried me to the cab last night could have been really nice, but can I know that? _Nooo,_ of course I can't because I was passed out cold and-" There was a slight pause and then Cece appeared in her doorway, "Hey I'm bored, let's have ice-cream."

Jess didn't even glance up. "Cece, we're studying."

"Yeah, but I'm talking about _Cookie Dough, _take a break."

"We can't right now Cece," Sadie said, barely glancing at her before she went back to highlighting her textbook.

"Okay, when?" Cece pestered.

"What are you, four?" She was still highlighting intensely.

"No, I'm hungry."

"Have some pizza," Sadie offered.

"But it's _cold!_"

"Heat it up then."

Cece pouted. "But it's not the same."

Jess' head snapped up from the textbook she was currently studying, eyeing Cece and pointing at her open door with her finger in a mother-like manner. "Cece, go to your room!"

Cece mock scowled. "Wow, you college girls are so _mean_."

Jess couldn't fight the smile that graced her face at her best friend's antics. "If you let us study now we promise we'll play with you at the convention this weekend."

"Promise?"

"Yeah," Sadie grinned, her face still downturned to her notes. "We'll even help find you a nice husband to take home to show your Mother."

Cece's eyes gleamed good-naturedly. "You've got yourselves a deal. Bonus points will be given if he's a nice Indian boy!" and with that she disappeared into her room. Minutes later she was back out however, cleaning casually against her doorframe again. "So… Where did we stand on the whole ice-cream issue?"

She stood up off the frame in surprise as both girls began to gather their books and each headed to their respective rooms without giving her a second glance.

"_Hey_!" She exclaimed in protest, but by this time of course, the room she was standing in was empty.

2.

Sadie spun her car around a left turn, slamming her hands down on the wheel when she realised it was another dead end. "Shit! Fucking, shit!"

Cece turned her head around, raising an eyebrow at Jess who was residing in the back on the car, surrounded by boxes labelled _Christopher Robin's Bakery. _Jess gave her a contended smile but then turned her attention to Sadie. "Sorry Sades, I didn't realise it'd be so hard to find our way back to the main road. It didn't seem that complicated when we were driving here."

"It's all bloody side-streets, they all look the damn same." Sadie said, exasperated. "Trust you to want to go a bakery in a part of town none of us have ever been to before."

"But I just wanted to try it _so bad_!" Jess reasoned. "I've heard people talking about it for months, and you know what I'm like when it comes to cupcakes!"

Sadie managed a small laugh. "I know," she admitted, "It's a good job we set off early; I just _really_ don't wanna miss this convention."

Cece gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. "Don't worry Sades, we've got plenty of time, now reverse the car and take a right turn, we haven't been that way yet, I bet that'll lead us back to the main road."

True to Cece's word, the right turn did indeed lead them back to a road they were more familiar with, and Sadie was pulling up in the parking lot of the building the convention was being held in twenty minutes later. Climbing out, Sadie saw Jess eyeing her boxes of cupcakes in the back of the car. "Jess come on," she urged, "They're _cupcakes_, nobody's gonna break into the car to steal _cupcakes._"

Jess gave her a disbelieving look and crossed her arms. "If I was breaking into a car, the only thing I would do it for _would be_ cupcakes."

Sadie and Cece broke out laughing at the serious look gracing her face and each grabbed one of her arms, pulling her towards the building's entrance. "I promise they'll still be there when you get back babe," Cece said soothingly to her, shaking her head in amusement at her friend's priorities.

"You have no idea how upset I'm gonna be if you're wrong," Jess muttered as they passed through the lobby of the building and into the main room.

"Wow, it's busy," Cece commented, gazing around at all the people who were filling the room.

Sadie shook her head in what seemed like distaste. "It's mainly teenage girls," She pointed out, "Which means that they probably haven't even seen the film and are just here to ogle at the guys."

Cece raised an eyebrow comically at her friend. "I'm sorry, I thought that's what we were here for?"

Sadie shot her a glare and began to move forward in the crowd, "Come on, let's get near the front, that's where they'll be sitting and taking questions."

Cece threw an arm over Jess' shoulder and moved her head close to hers as they followed Sadie. "Well, that's what _I'm_ here for at least." She admitted with a smirk.

Jess' reply was silenced by somebody speaking into a microphone at the front of the hall, the sound carrying all the way around the room: "_We're sorry for the delay; But Nick, Winston and Schmidt are running slightly late. We're sorry to keep you waiting; the guys behind Pepperwood will be with you as soon as they can."_

By the time the announcer had stopped speaking, Sadie had led them almost to the front of the hall, and they were close enough so that Jess could now see there was a slightly raised level above them with a long table placed on it and three chairs- this was obviously were the three guys were going to be speaking from.

"Hey," Jess spoke, nudging her friends, "If they're going to be a while I think I'm gonna nip to the bathroom, stay here, I'll be right back."

With that she began weaving her way through the crowd. She decided to head right, towards the far wall, although she couldn't see any restroom signs anywhere and knew it was purely guess-work. Reaching the edge of the crowd, Jess saw a door about three feet to the left of her, just off from the raised platform at the front and headed towards it- It did seem to lead to a corridor after all and she figured there was at least a chance the bathrooms would be that way.

Once on the other side of the door she found herself in an expansive corridor, the walls painted glistening white and the tiles on the floor seeming significantly more expensive than they did out in the main room. She halted momentarily in an attempt to find her bearings and then headed off left down the corridor, letting her eyes fall left and right periodically in search of restroom signs. She paused halfway down the corridor and furrowed her brow, coming to the conclusion that this most definitely was not the right way, but before she had a chance to turn and go back the way she had come, she heard a voice from behind her.

"You're aware this is for staff of the convention only right?"

Jess winced and started to spin around; she hated being in trouble. "Sorry," she began to say in a slight hurry, "I was trying to find the…" her voice faltered and she turned around fully and recognised who she was facing- the guy who had helped her get Cece and Sadie home two nights ago.

"Hey, you again," He seemed surprised to see her, but Jess figured that did make sense, it was _definitely _an uncanny coincidence that she'd managed to bump into him now on two separate occasions in a fairly short space on time.

"Me again," she flashed him a grin. "We seem to be making a habit of bumping into each other in corridors leading to the bathrooms."

The guy screwed his face up. "This corridor doesn't lead to the bathrooms…" he trailed off in confusion.

"No," Jess affirmed, "It really doesn't, but I thought it did, and I think that's the important thing here."

The guy ruffled his hair and went to reply, but after opening his mouth he seemed to think it was a bad idea and simply said "Are you here for the convention?"

"Yeah." Jess said immediately, and then, "Well, no actually. I mean I'm here with my friend Sadie." She gave him a small smile "She was the one throwing up into the trashcan the other night. Anyway, she really loves the film and wanted to come today, so I just hope it's interesting, for her sake." Jess paused again and then added "Honestly, I just wanted to come out for cupcakes."

His eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was trying to internally sketch her character, but he still had a look of confusion etched onto his face that Jess couldn't quite work out. "Have you seen the film?" he ventured.

"Not exactly." Jess admitted. "Sadie took us to see it but then I didn't really end up watching it because I was looking after Cece while she was throwing up into some man's hat…" Jess trailed off and wrinkled her brow, "Vomiting seems to feature heavily in a lot of my stories." she established with a small frown. "I promise it doesn't actually happen that often."

Jess noticed his head tilt to the side slightly, but before could determine what exactly his expression was the noise from the crowd in the main room filtered in through the open door and Jess heard the man from before announce, _"The guys from Pepperwood have arrived, if everyone would like to gather around they will be with you momentarily, thank you for your patience." _

"Ah," Jess spoke up when he had finished speaking, "I should probably be getting back to my friends then, it might take me a while go get through the crowd," She was moving away from him and hurrying down the corridor before he even had a chance to reply. "Enjoy the convention!" she shouted over her shoulder before she disappeared through the door to the main room.

Jess weaved in and out of the crowd for five minutes before she finally found Cece and Sadie again. "You took your time," Cece announced with a smile as Jess appeared next to her.

"I didn't even make it to the bathroom." She admitted. "I got lost. Hey, guess who I ran in to-"

Jess was silenced however by the clap of the crowd as the guys from _Pepperwood_ walked on to the stage. Jess kept her eyes lowered, looking through her purse for her phone to make sure she hadn't lost it while she was trudging through the crowd as the guys began to speak.

"_Hi, I'm Schmidt, I played the main character Toby in the film, and I also helped create some of the sets and of course, the costumes."_

"_Hi, I'm Winston Bishop, I played Devon in the film, and happened to be the first black guy in history not to die first by the way," _He paused as the audience laughed and cheered, _"And I also helped direct and featured heavily in the editing process."_

"_Hi, I'm Nicholas Miller, you can call me Nick-" _Jess' head snapped up instantly as the sound of the last guys voice and found that she was looking at the man she had been talking to not five minutes earlier. She felt her mouth drop open comically.

"_I played the role of about ten of the zombies-" _More laughter from the audience _"And the role of Patrick, who not-so-coincidentally happened to die very early on, giving my acting abilities minimal screen time- which you should all personally thank me for because I really am terrible-" _Cue more laughter. _"I also happened to write the film, and along with these guys I'm gonna talk to ya' a bit about that and then answer any questions you might have." _He paused then, and Jess thought he was finished talking, and tried to let out a breath, but then his eyes found hers, and he smirked, leaning in closer to the mic, _"And I'll try to keep it interesting, for all of your sakes."_

The one named Winston began talking after that, but Jess was no longer listening. "Shit," she muttered to herself, before collecting herself and shoving both Sadie and Cece in the arm. "Those are the guys!" she gestured wildly up to the table on the platform.

"What guys?" Cece screwed up her face in confusion.

"The guys who helped me with you two at the bar the other night!"

Cece's eyes went wide. "WHAT?" she practically yelled, and then when people around her turned to glare, she moved her face closer to Jess and repeated in a more hushed tone "_What!"_

"We'd been talking about them all day, _how_ could you not have recognised them?" Sadie piped up, eyeing Jess with an incredulous look painted on her face.

"Oh I don't know," Jess confessed, "I never really pay attention to that stuff you know me," She paused for a minute and her eyes opened wider than before. "I bumped into the main guy, Nick, just before they came out too."

Something appeared to occur to Cece and she turned to her friend. "Wait, which one was it that shoulder-carried me to the cab?" she asked, a hint of panic lacing her voice.

"Err, the guy with the shiny hair," Jess gestured to the table with her arm, "The one on the right, Schmidt."

"Oh God," Cece muttered, hiding her head in her hands, "I can't believe _Schmidt_ carried me while I was passed out, probably slobbering, and you didn't even tell me! I'm never going to live this down."

Jess creased her brow. "I can't believe I bumped into Nick twice and _still_ didn't grasp who he was." She felt herself cringe as she recalled their earlier conversation. "Oh god, I thought he was here for the same reason we are, I told him to _enjoy the convention,_ how embarrassing!"

Sadie merely shook her head in disbelief and turned back to the platform, "Jessica Day, I seriously cannot believe you sometimes."

3.

Jess found that her focus faded in and out sporadically for the rest of the time the three guys spent on the platform. She had managed to concentrate for a short space of time while the one called Winston was telling the audience how they had managed to create such realistic zombies on such a small budget (which was using minimal lighting, and a lot of Schmidt's personal make-up, for the record) and then her attention had wavered again and by the time her eyes re-focused on the platform she found the guys were just finishing taking questions from the crowd around her.

"_-And what reaction were you expecting the film to get?" _she heard a faint voice from behind her ask.

"_Honestly, we weren't expecting a reaction at all."_ Nick answered, leaning into the microphone with a modest look etched on his face. _"I think we all kind of hoped that our friends and family would like it, and that they'd tell their friends about it and that we'd maybe get a bit of recognition."_

"_Yeah," _Winston joined in. _"I don't think even in our wildest dreams we expected the film to be as popular as it's become in the last year. We were just three guys having a good time, that's really all we thought about."_

A man from the side of the platform seemed to signal that that would be the end of the questions, and all three guys turned to face the crowd again as they prepared to leave.

"_Well thank you for listening to us, and for all your questions. We hope you guys enjoyed yourselves today and-" _Nick's gaze turned to her own again then, his lips forming into a smirk and she knew his next words were directed only to her, _"In case anybody was wondering, we enjoyed the convention very much as well."_

With that the crowd began to applaud, and she watched as the two guys on the right stood up from their seats and made their way quickly off and over to the door Jess had mistakenly went through earlier. Nick was a little slower with his departure however, and Jess saw when she glanced back at him that his eyes were still directed towards her. When he noticed her gaze meet his, he jabbed his thumb towards the door and his eyes widened in question as he mouthed something she didn't quite catch- she got the general meaning behind the gesture though- he wanted her to meet him in the corridor. She nodded once at him before he took his leave, and immediately turned to Cece and Sadie beside her, motioning for them to follow her.

"What, why?" Sadie seemed disappointed, "There's still a bunch of stalls I want to visit."

"I'm gonna make it up to both of you for my lack of ability to recognise famous people," she explained simply.

"How?" Cece raised one sculpted eyebrow.

"I'm gonna take you to meet the _Pepperwood _guys."

Cece's eyes widened suddenly. "_What?_ But I'm not ready, I didn't even _really_ put make-up on this morning Jess, this is just a base-coat, a _base-coat Jess!_"

Jess' eyes shined with humour. "Cece babe, the last time they saw you, you were out cold and your lips were dyed partially blue from all the blueberry sour shots I'd given you so believe me when I say that how you're looking now is at _least_ an eighty per cent improvement."

Cece was muttering under her breath as she entered the corridor, Jess turning and leading them left as she had done before. They hadn't taken two steps however before they heard the distinct noise of men arguing and Sadie held her finger to her lips silently, a smirk rising to her face as she nudged her friends forward so that they had a clear view through the open door of one of the nearby rooms at the three _Pepperwood_ boys within.

It was Winston who was speaking: "I keep telling you Schmidt, nobody wants your raw fish. One of these days you're actually going to listen to us and just buy us some God damn pizza."

"And I keep telling _you_ Winston," Schmidt replied without pause, "It's called _Temarizushi, _and one of these days you and Nicholas are going to realise that I'm just trying to educate you. You need to broaden your palate."

"Stop using the word _palate._" Nick grumbled.

"Palate, Nicholas," Schmidt retorted, his eyes wide, "_Palate!_"

Jess found she almost blew their cover by laughing at the incredible turtle-like face that Nick pulled in response and turned her head to face Cece and Sadie who, she happily noticed, were finding the situation just as hilarious as she was.

Sadie's grin widened when she noticed the boys' argument coming to an end and she stepped forward into their field of vision almost immediately, speaking up so that they couldn't mistake her presence. "You know, you guys should really stop with the incessant bickering, it's going to make us want to second guess inviting you all to our party on Wednesday."

She caught Cece and Jess' confused looks out of the corner of her eye, but they seemed to catch up after a few moments and realise that she was talking about their annual _October Boozer_ party.

"I'm Sadie, by the way." She added with a grin, and pointed to her side. "This is Cece, and I guess I don't need to introduce Jess."

"You look completely different when you're awake," Schmidt addressed Cece with a lopsided smile, and at the look of complete bewilderment that suddenly overtook her features Winston swiftly stepped forward.

"He means that as a compliment," he assured hurriedly, placing a firm hand on Schmidt's shoulder and murmuring "Be cool man," into his ear.

Cece coloured and Sadie found herself chuckling. "Anyway, there's a party," she confirmed again. "We throw it every year. Kind of one last big blow out before the run up to exams begins and everything starts to get hectic. You guys should come."

"It's always fun," Jess affirmed, glancing at Nick as she spoke and giving him a small smile, "A tonne of people come and there's music and games-"

"-And we're supplying the alcohol." Cece added, eyeing Schmidt- who seemed to be attempting to hide the grin on his face. "It'll be our way of thanking you guys for saving our dignity the other night by helping get us home."

"What's left of your dignity anyway," Jess corrected.

"There's nothing left of our dignity." Sadie clarified with a small shake of her head.

"Fine!" Cece laughed. "You did nothing to preserve our dignity, but you did help get us home, and for that we want to thank you, so you should come."

Nick, Winston and Schmidt agreed almost immediately of course, and within minutes the group had exchanged phone numbers (more specifically, Nick and Jess had exchanged phone numbers, for it was Jess that played the main role in organising the party, and Nick who was deemed the more responsible out of the three boys) with the promise of them texting the finer details of the party to them later in the day. When the girls had left the room and were hurrying back to the car, it was Cece who broke the silence first.

"Is it strange that I find Schmidt charming?"

Sadie eyed her friend as they stepped outside into the parking lot. "That depends what it was you found charming- his chest, or his personality."

Cece frowned. "Oddly, I think it was both."

She chuckled as they reached the car, reaching into her bag and pulling out her car keys before she spoke again. "Yes then, it's definitely strange."

Jess joined in the laughing almost immediately and Sadie swapped her attentions from one friend to the other and raised an eyebrow in amusement before she continued. "And don't think I didn't catch you eyeing Nick." She informed her with a grin. "Have a thing for flannel shirts do we?"

"I was not _eyeing him_," Jess scoffed indignantly as she climbed into the back seat. "I was just _looking _at him. Besides, you know I'm not looking to date anybody right now, I think we'll just end up being good friends."

This comment earned another smirk from Sadie. "Right, _friends,_" she mocked, and she looked over her shoulder, backed the car out of the parking space and starting heading towards the exit before she spoke to both Jess and Cece again. "Just promise me I can be Maid of Honour when you two have your inevitable double wedding."


End file.
